Trump administration refunds US$100 billion in 'liberation day' tariffs

· Toronto Sun

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The United States government has refunded a large portion of the billions of dollars it collected from President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs after the duties were struck down by the Supreme Court, according to new court filings.

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As of July 31, approximately US$100 billion (CAD$140.15 billion) in tariff revenue was refunded to the companies that paid them, the U.S. Court of International Trade said in a filing signed Tuesday by Brandon Lord, executive director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Trade Programs.

That figure represents about 60% of the roughly US$166 billion in duties the Trump administration received before the top court struck down the sweeping tariffs in early February, ruling that the president had exceeded his authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) last year to impose the duties.

In March, federal Judge Richard Eaton ordered the Trump administration to refund the money it collected under the IEEPA to importers.

Trump has made tariffs central to his approach to economic and foreign policy, with his latest round targeting about 60 trading partners , including the European Union and Canada, for allegedly failing to adequately ban goods made with forced labour.

Those levies, which were imposed last month, replaced the temporary 10% tariff that Trump introduced shortly after the Supreme Court nixed his initial global tariffs.

Trump targets Canada in latest comments

Trump has stood firm on using tariffs to boost the U.S. economy, blaming past administrations for trade deficits that have financially strained Americans.

“Tariffs are my favourite word,” Trump said at a rally Wednesday in Las Vegas. “I love tariffs cause we’ve been screwed by tariffs used against us for years by China, by Japan, by South Korea, by Germany, by everybody, by Canada.

“Canada’s nasty. They are, they’re nasty,” he added as the crowd cheered on.

“They all did it to us, but that doesn’t work anymore cause we turned the table on everybody.”

Though Trump maintains that his use of tariffs is justified, 25 U.S. states sued his administration over his replacement levies over forced labour on Monday.

The lawsuit joins other legal challenges the Trump administration is facing over its multiple rounds of tariffs.

The new levies charges U.S. importers up to 12.5% for goods coming from about 60 countries, with the tariff rate for Canadian goods set at 10%.

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